It didn't rain Sunday afternoon in Braintree, but some residents still got soaked as they attended the opening of the Petersen Splash Pad.

The colorful, 4,000-square-foot play area in Watson Park features mist sprayers, squirt guns and structures that spray water from the ground or dump it from overhead.

“There was a time a couple of years ago when I thought we could do a pool here, and that didn’t quite work out,” Mayor Joseph Sullivan said during a speech at the opening.

“We had a couple of community meetings, and from those community meetings we came up with what I think is a better plan,” Sullivan said. “This is the better plan, the splash pad.”

Neighborhood residents seemed to agree with Sullivan.

“I think it’s a great addition to the neighborhood, so on all those sweltering days when you’re on the playground you can just run from the playground to the splash park and back to the playground,” said Kristen Poulin, who brought her two children, Kendall, 7, and Garrett, 5, to the opening.

Both children enjoyed the splash pad, though Kendall said she preferred the mist tunnel, while Garrett said the squirt guns were his favorite.

“We come here a lot, and we’ve been waiting for this for years,” McKenna said. “I think it came out better than really any splash pad I’ve seen.”

During his speech, Sullivan praised former East Braintree resident and tugboat captain August Petersen, for whom the splash pad is named.

Petersen left the town $65,000 upon his death in 1965 for the creation of a pool in Watson Park. The fund has since grown to close to $2 million, and a portion of it was used to pay for the splash pad.

The town is planning to build a pool and ice rink in honor of Petersen at Braintree High School with the remainder of the money.